Unforgiven
by Darkpurplelighter
Summary: What if Ponyboy didn't forgive Darry for hitting him that night? What events now await him and the rest of the gang? Can Darry ever regain Pony's trust?
1. Chapter 1

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Upon being woken up by Johnny in the vacant lot, Ponyboy ran home as fast as he possibly could, all well dreading what was waiting for him once he reached his house. Darry was sitting on the recliner in the front room and looked up from the newspaper he was reading for the eighth time. He looked up once he heard the front door open as Pony slowly made his way inside which immediately caused Darry to jump to his feet.

"Where the heck have you been?" He demanded. "Do you know what time it is?"

Pony shook his head wordlessly.

"Well, it's two in the morning, kiddo. Another hour and I would have had the police out after you. Where were you, Ponyboy? "Where in the almighty universe were you?"

"I fell asleep in the lot," Pony muttered while looking at the floor, knowing how stupid it sounded. He then slowly walking past his oldest brother while keeping his head down.

"You what!"

By this time Sodapop had woken up from Darry's shouting after falling asleep on the couch just a short while ago.

"Hey, Pony," he said while yawning. "Where you been?"

Darry however followed Ponyboy and stopped him from closing the bathroom door.

"I reckon it never occurred to you that your brothers might be worrying their heads off and afraid to call the police because something like that could get you two thrown in a boys' home so quick it'd make your head spin."

"Look, I said I didn't mean to," Pony then snapped, now feeling angry and frustrated as he pushed down tears in his eyes.

"I didn't mean to!" Darry's yelling echoed throughout the house. "I'm sorry, I didn't think! That's all I ever hear from you!"

Ponyboy could only stand there as Darry continued yelling at him for coming home late. Sodapop decided to try to calm the impending storm of emotions.

"Darry…" He pleaded.

Darry turned around and snapped at him.

"Shut up! I'm sick and tired of you always sticking up for him!"

Shocked by his words, Ponyboy made a demand of his own, sticking up for Soda the way he had always done for him.

"Don't you yell at him!"

After that, Darry spun around and struck Ponyboy out of anger. Ponyboy was propelled to the door by the impact. For a second no one in the room drew a breath. Darry looked down at his hand with his eyes widened and then looked back up at his youngest brother.

"Ponyboy-" He began.

But before he could say another word, Ponyboy turned around and bolted out the door.

"Pony I didn't mean to!" Darry yelled, ironically using the same words that his youngest brother had just used. But Ponyboy ignored him and kept running as fast as he could down the sidewalk. Ponyboy kept running until he was in a dark alley. Finally he stopped to catch his breath. Angry, Pony kicked a trashcan as tears of frustration came down his cheeks.

Darry always got on him about everything, he never yelled at Soda about nothing. It was then did he realize that he didn't hear the sound of footsteps or anyone shouting for him to stop or come back. Darry didn't even bother to come after him after he ran out. His oldest brother didn't like him, he had always thought it, no matter what Sodapop or Two-Bit said and tonight proved it.

Pony leaned back against the wall. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to stay in the alley all night.

Finally, he decided to go back to the vacant lot to see Johnny. He was Ponyboy's best friend and he could talk to him about anything. Once he got there he saw that he was sleeping. Pony frowned but didn't want to wake him. He layed down next to Johnny and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, he too was sound asleep.

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Waking up a couple of hours later, Ponyboy slowly turned his head to look over at Johnny only to see that his best friend was gone. Sitting up, Pony tried to shake the sleepiness from himself, but winced as he had a little bit of a headache. He got up from the ground and headed home. Boy, was he going to hear it from Darry and Soda when he got back. Darry and him were probably going to end up fighting again, but he didn't want to think about it right now as his head was pounding while he made his way back to the house.

When he walked inside, he froze when he saw Darry was on the couch asleep. It caused him to let go of the screen door accidentally, causing it to slam. The noise caused Darry to jerk awake and he saw him.

Jumping up, he quickly went to hug Pony, but the younger boy pulled away. He hadn't forgotten what Darry had done to him last night. Darry looked hurt, but he had hurt Pony and this was pay back. All the same he stayed quiet.

Walking into the kitchen, Pony saw Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Steve all sitting around the table, eating breakfast and talking amongst themselves. Just like Darry had done, Sodapop jumped to his feet when he saw Pony and hugged him tightly. Ponyboy didn't pull away from him, though and couldn't help but grin. Soda just had that effect on him.

"Where did you go?" Soda asked. "We've been worried sick."

"Who's 'we'?" Pony asked, genuine surprise in his voice.

Sodapop gave him a sad look and glanced at Darry, who was standing behind them. Pony didn't turn to see him, but he knew he was standing there; he could feel it.

"Don't be like that, Pony," Soda said quietly.

"What's going on?" Two-Bit asked, as if he could sense the awkwardness between the brothers.

Ponyboy finally turned around to see Darry close to tears.

"Why shouldn't I be? He hit me last night!" Pony shouted. "Why shouldn't I act like that Soda, huh!"

Ponyboy turned back around to face Sodapop, and the rest of the gang. Soda didn't looked shocked since he had seen it but Two-Bit and Steve did. Darry had never laid a hand on him before last night. There was a long silence before someone broke it.

"You know I didn't mean to, Pony," Darry said quietly. There was sadness in his voice; hurt. It took all he had not to let any tears fall. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry!" Pony shouted while spinning around to glare at him. "YOUR'RE SORRY!"

"Ponyboy, I didn't mean too." Darry began to plead for forgiveness. "I would never mean to hurt you or Sodapop, I just reacted."

Ponyboy was angry, not just about Darry hitting him, he was angry about everything. Maybe if it had just been a simple smack, Pony would have just let it go and forgiven Darry, but when it came to this subject he had so much more building deep within him.

"Oh really!" Pony snapped. "And how did you "just react" when Sodapop dropped out of school? Or when he gets parking tickets? Or when he got arrested? How did you react then? Did you yell at him? Or ground him? Or hit him? DID YOU!" Ponyboy was now screaming at the top of his lungs.

Darry looked down at the floor, he couldn't answer. Ponyboy then began to yell more. He just couldn't help it, he couldn't stop himself. Even if it might get him hit again, Pony continued to last out.

"I put up with all your crap, day in and day out! Nothing I ever do is good enough for you! What I do at school, what I do here! And every single night I have to listen Soda tell me that you don't mean it, and I'm sick of hearing it!"

Ponyboy was literally shaking with anger as he shouted at Darry. The others could only stare wide eyed at what was going on. They didn't even know Ponyboy right now. Darry could only stand there, not knowing how to respond. Pony breathed in deeply and pushed roughly past his oldest brother, stomping toward the front door. He looked back at Darry one final time.

"From now on, don't talk to me anymore. Leave me alone, and stay out of my life."

Pony then slammed the door behind him. No one could say anything as the most uncomfortable silence ever fill the air of the Curtis house. The next couple of minutes just went by in a haze as Steve took his plate to the sink, told Sodapop he would see him later and left the house.

However, Sodapop didn't even notice him as he was sitting at the dining table, still stunned over what had just happened mere minutes ago. In his whole life, he had never seen Ponyboy act that way he did. It was like a completely different person had come home. Darry had finished getting ready for work and walked back into the kitchen when Soda finally spoke.

"Darry...I'm sorry." Soda apologized.

His older brother turned to him.

"What for?" Darry asked, confused that he was apologizing.

"For Pony. He had no right to talk to you like that. I don't what's gotten into him. You know he isn't usually like that."

"You don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault." Darry sighed heavily. "It's hard for him. I understand that."

"But that's no reason for him to treat you like that."

"No, it isn't. But I don't care anymore. If he wants me to stay out of his life, that's fine." Darry tried to convince himself that he meant that, put he knew deep down that he didn't. Soda scratched his head, trying to think of a way to fix this situation. He hated having to play the role of peace-maker but the last thing he wanted was there to be any kind of estrangement between his two brothers.

"Darry…why don't you just take the day off?" He finally suggested. "Just wait for Pony to come home. Everyone will be calmer by then and we can work all of this out."

Darry shook his head.

"I don't want to stay home. It'll just cause more problems." He responded. "I don't want to deal with Pony again today. I'm too tired and he hates me."

Soda frowned.

"He doesn't hate you, Darry."

Darry didn't respond and just walked to the bathroom and started combing his hair. He splashed some water on his face and looked up in surprise to see that Two-Bit was standing there. He didn't even know he was still here as Two-Bit had remained as quiet as a church mouse during Pony's tirade.

"Darry..." Two-Bit began, "I need to tell you something about Pony."

The older boy sighed heavily as he just gave his friend a look. He was emotionally drained and didn't think he could hear anymore today. But, the older brother and guardian in him let Two-Bit continue.

"It was something he said last night. Pony thinks _you_ hate _him_."

Darry's brows furrowed in confusion.

"When did he say that?"

"Last night. We were walking these girls back to their houses and when one of them asked what you were like he snapped. He said you couldn't stand him and thinks you would to put him in a home if Soda let you."

Darry continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"I know it may not be my place. I just thought you should know." Two-Bit finished.

He nodded a wordless thanks and closed the bathroom door, continuing to get ready for work. He then looked at himself in the mirror, the shocked look still etched on his face.

 _'Ponyboy thinks I want to put him in a home? Doesn't he realize I'm doing all of this so he **doesn't** have to be put in one?'_


	2. Chapter 2

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With his heart still beating rapidly from all the yelling and screaming he had done, Ponyboy continued making his way towards the bowling alley, the spot in which he had hoped he wound find Johnny. Sure enough once he walked in and did a quick scan of the place when he saw his buddy at his usual spot in the corner playing with the pinball machine. Lightly jogging over towards him, Pony got his attention;

"Hey, Johnny, how come you didn't wake me?"

Johnny let go of the pinball machine and looked towards Ponyboy. His brows furrowed when he saw the look on his face and instantly knew that he was upset about something.

"Well, I was a little surprised when I woke up and saw you had come back to the lot. I really didn't know if I should wake you or not this time. Why, what's wrong?"

Sighing heavily, the younger greaser lowered his eye momentarily as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Darry and me. We had a fight...a bad one."

What happened?"

"He's the one who screwed up, so why should I feel bad?"

"What _happened_?" Johnny asked again.

Ponyboy sighed. He hated telling Johnny about his problems at home because he knew Johnny's were ten times worse. He then told him how Darry had reacted when he got home, how Darry had hit him and the words he said back to his oldest brother just a few minutes ago. As Pony repeated them, he now started to regret some of what he had said. But he was just so mad, every bit of frustration just poured out of him and he couldn't stop it.

After he finished, he looked over at his best friend as he frowned.

"I think I like it better when the old man's hitting me." Johnny then sighed. "At least then he knows who I am. I walk in that house, and nobody says anything. I walk out, and nobody says anything. I stay away all night, and nobody notices. At least you've got Soda. I ain't got nobody."

"Shoot," Ponyboy began, snapping out of his own misery to try and cheer up the other boy, "You've got the whole gang, Johnny. Dally didn't slug you last night when you stood up for Cherry 'cause you're the pet. You've got the whole gang, we'd do anything for you."

"It ain't the same as having your own folks care about you. It just ain't the same."

Pony nodded wordlessly. He felt terribly for Johnny as he then leaned up against the wall. Johnny did the same as he reached into his pocket and offered Pony a cigarette. He accepted and the two lit up and just silently smoked for a few minutes before Pony started talking again.

"I'm sorry, Johnny. It's just...Darry didn't used to be like this," Ponyboy said, attempting to blow a smoke ring. "We used to get along okay...before Mom and Dad died…now he just can't stand me."

Johnny nodded.

"Well, Ponyboy, you gotta plan?"

"A plan?"

"I mean, how are things going to work now with you and Darry under the same roof? You know all I do to avoid my Dad. Darry ain't gonna let you get away with 'em if you try it."

"I don't know," Ponyboy muttered, almost miserably. He now started thinking about the awkward tension that was going to be in the house now, every time he and Darry would be in the same room, going to the kitchen for food, or when Darry asked to see his schoolwork. How would Darry react to him now after the things he had said. And how was Sodapop going to handle this? There was just so many things that never occurred to him because he never thought that he'd be in this kind of situation, no matter how bad things got between him and Darry.

"Maybe you should go back home and talk things over," Johnny suggested.

"Talk?" Pony responded, almost incredulously. He thought that Johnny was being too calm about the situation. He wasn't sure if a simple talk was going to fix things. With his luck, the way things were going, if Darry and him started talking again the problem would only get worse.

"How else are you going to handle this?"

Staring ahead, Ponyboy finished up his cigarette as an idea came to him.

"I'll go home and just not speak to Darry."

He looked over at Johnny as his friend stared at him as he continued.

"It's my house just as much as it is his. And if he wants to pretend that I'm not alive, that's just fine with me."

Ponyboy tried to convince himself that was the best solution as he and Johnny then exited the bowling alley to go find something to do for the day. So he and Darry would simply not speak to each other from now on. It wouldn't be a big deal, Pony figured, as long as they still had Sodapop. As the two of them made their way through town, Darry was driving his way to towards the DX gas station to drop Sodapop off before heading to his own job. The two brothers were silent, the events of last night and early this morning still fresh in both of their minds. In addition to that, Darry was also thinking about tonight. He didn't have to work his second job, he would see Pony early. How would Pony react to his presence now? How would _he_ react to Pony's? His younger brother had said some things that were going to be tough to just forget...but was he right?

"Do you think I'm too hard on Pony?" Darry asked, finally breaking the silence.

Soda shifted uncomfortably.

"You can be," Soda answered honestly. "You get on him a lot more than me. I've told him it's because he's the youngest so it's a little different. I tell him you love him a lot-"

"So he complains to you too about me, huh?" Darry asked, anger clear in his voice as he then started thinking about what Two-But had told him. "Doesn't he understand what I've given up?"

"Of course he does. You guys have just gotta start talking to each other more and work all this stuff out."

The oldest brother exhaled heavily.

"I don't know how I'm gonna do that. You heard what he said, he wants nothing to do with me now."

"It's only been a couple of hours since you hit him. Just give it some time, eventually he'll get over it."

Darry glanced over at his brother as he hoped that was true. He then dropped Soda off and watched him make his way over towards Steve who was working on a car before driving his way over to the house he was going to be roofing today. It was backbreaking labor, and it hurt and angered him deeply at the thought that maybe his youngest brother didn't appreciate what he was doing in order to keep them all together. He knew that Sodapop did, but Ponyboy on the other hand...

He tried to put it out of his mind, but as Darry worked his way through the long day, carrying heavy bundles of shingles over his shoulder, up and down the ladder, many, many times, he thoughts stayed on Ponyboy as the slow realization of just how far apart the two had drifted ever since their parents died came to him.

It didn't get any better when his lunch break came as Darry simply sat in his truck and now began to think back to the things Pony had said this morning, about how he was with Sodapop with his parking tickets and getting arrested, and all the other things. It was true that he hadn't gotten nearly as mad at Soda as he had with Pony last night, or other times that he had gotten in trouble. Darry really couldn't explain why that was, but the more he thought about it the more he wondered if Ponyboy thought that he favored Soda.

That certainly wasn't the case, but Darry had also wondered in the past if Ponyboy preferred Soda over him. That definitely seemed to be the case to him, as Ponyboy always went to Soda first for _anything_...but then Darry laughed slightly to himself as he shook his head. This was the problem. He didn't understand Pony and Ponyboy didn't understand him.

"Earth to Darry. Come in Darry."

Somebody was knocking on his car door. Darry snapped out of his thoughts as he saw one of his co-workers, Jim Graham staring at him with an amused look on his face.

"Yeah, what is it Jim?" Darry asked while getting out of the truck.

"I said do you want to get a beer tonight?"

He rolled his eyes. This had been a weekly routine of Jim's to try to get him to come to the bar along with the rest of the guys.

"I don't drink. That was my answer last week. And the week before that, and the week before that. So when are you going to stop asking me?"

"When you finally break down and say yes," Jim smirked. "I'm gonna get you drunk one of these days."

A grin came over Darry's face as they began to walk together.

"You remind me so much of a buddy of mine. But believe me, alcohol has never been more tempting more than today."

"Woman problems?"

"Little brother problems."

"Oh, well...buy him a new toy," Jim suggested.

Darry snorted.

"If it were only that simple."

"Alright. You know the offer is open."

Jim walked ahead to get back to work as Darry put his hands on his hips and watched him. He then started to think that maybe it would be best if Ponyboy and him didn't see each other for the rest of the day. If they just had a full day away from one another to cool off and then start fresh tomorrow morning. Pony could hang out with Johnny or Two-Bit at the movies and Darry could do his thing. After all, what would having a couple of drinks hurt?

"Hey, Jim!" Darry called out, getting his attention. "Are you buying?"

Smiling a little, Jim replied;

"I'm buying."

When nightfall came, both brothers did exactly that. Ponyboy went off to the movies with Johnny while Darry hadn't even gone home and just went straight to the bar with Jim and a couple of their other co-workers. It was nice as being around the guys helped him take his mind off the last twenty-four hours. Darry didn't get to go out much to have fun and loosen up, all while still trying to be mindful about consuming too much alcohol. "Still trying to be a boy scout" as Jim put it, teasing playfully. Darry consumed another drink as the guys started up a game of darts as Jim handed Darry a pool-cue and they started up a game of their own.

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Meanwhile at the Nightly Double, the movie had come to an end. Ponyboy said his goodbye to Johnny as he was going off to stay at Two-Bit's place tonight. Pony dropped down on the nearest curb, he stretched back, cracking his neck and sighing deeply as he thought about what was waiting for him when he finally went home. He was just as nervous now as he was when Johnny woke him last night.

As Ponyboy stood, he suddenly felt something brush over his back before an arm twisted around his neck. A voice spoke;

"Ain't it a little past your bedtime?"


	3. Chapter 3

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Panic immediately shot through every nerve in Ponyboy's body as he quickly did the first thing to come to his mind and elbowed whoever had grabbed him right in the gut which caused a gasp of pain from his 'attacker' which freed him from the tight grip Pony had been placed in. Spinning around, ready to nail the person, Ponyboy's eyes widened in surprise once he saw who it had been.

He was staring at the face of his buddy, Curly Shepard.

"Damn," Curly said while rubbing his mid-section as a grin came over his face. "A bit on the edge, aren't ya Baby Curtis?"

"Curly," Pony muttered, relief washing over him as he got out of his defensive stance. "Yeah, well, if you had been jumped by some socs a few nights ago you'd be 'on the edge' too."

"Were you walking alone?" He then laughed a little while shaking his head. "What a dumb shit."

Instantly annoyed, Ponyboy gave him a dirty look.

"Hey, I already get enough of that crap from Darry, I don't need to hear it from you too."

Spinning on his heels, he turned to walk away but Curly followed after him and the two walked down the sidewalk together.

"You should have been carrying on of these with you," Curly spoke as he pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Had it been me, I would have stabbed one of the sons of bitches."

"Or had it taken away and used against you," Ponyboy responded while eyeing the blade.

"That never would have happened."

"Yeah, cause you're so tough," the younger greaser gave a small laugh as he was only half kidding. He knew full well that Curly was the spitting image of his older brother, Tim. "Anyway, what have you been up too?"

"Funny you should ask. I'm helping my older bro put together a bridge wars competition."

"Bridge wars?" Pony's brows furrowed in bewilderment. "What the heck is that?"

"Never heard of it?"

"Obviously not. Where in the world is there a bridge around here?"

"It's a few towns over," Curly answered as he then began to explain, "It's about twenty feet off the ground, maybe more, built over this lake. What happens is two guys at a time go up and try to knock the other off with these long bo-staff things. I'm not surprised you never heard of it, after some kid got hurt a couple of years ago, it'd stopped taking place."

"So the whole point is to try and knock another person off this huge bridge?"

Curly grinned.

"That's the idea? You interested?"

"Only if I had the chance to throw you off."

"Like you ever could. And if you're serious, it's going to cost you to get in."

"How much?"

"Sixty bucks."

"Sixty bucks?" Ponyboy said incredulously as his eyes widened in disbelief. "You're insane!"

"Hey, you play, you pay," Curly shrugged. "There's gonna be a bunch of guys gettin' in on this. The winner keeps it all. So, you want in?"

"Sure, I'll just pull a hundred bucks out of thin air and use it so I can be thrown off a bridge. Sounds like something more up Dally's alley."

"Well, as it just so happens, he's doing it. You can't be too surprised about that, can you?"

"No, I can't."

The two of them continued to talk for another minute or two before heading off his different direction, the conversation ending with Ponyboy wishing Curly luck on the whole thing before sprinting off towards his house. He knew he wasn't past his curfew but the last thing he wanted was to give Darry any kind of reason to yell at him or even speak to him for that matter. He was just going to get home and head straight for his room. Back at the Curtis house, the oldest brother had been slumped in the recliner ever since arriving home after a night at the bar. He was waiting for his brothers when the screen door opened and Sodapop walked through.

"Hey, Pepsi-Cola," Darry muttered, almost miserably.

Darry's tone instantly caught him off guard.

"Darry? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

His last word were slurred. Soda came over and dropped down on the couch as he looked over his brother with worried eyes.

"Have you been drinking?

"Maybe a little," Darry responded while a shrug of the shoulder.

"Why?"

Drinking was something Soda knew Darry didn't do. He couldn't to stare at him, wide-eyed, maybe even with a little fear in them as he waited for an answer. It was a simple question but Darry just remained silent.

"Darry?"

The older boy could tell Soda was starting to get mad. After another long minute, Darry finally muttered;

"Ponyboy hates me."

Sodapop sighed heavily.

"You know he's going to get over you hitting him."

"No, not just that. Well, probably for that, but he hated me before the other night. Two-Bit told me he thinks I want to stick him in a boys' home. I just didn't want him to get hurt, he doesn't use his head...I couldn't stand it if anything happened to him,"

Darry was just babbling at this point which showed just how much he had to drink tonight. Sodapop lowered his eyes as he stared at his feet. He hated to see his brother like this. Darry then exhaled deeply before saying;

"I'm now starting to think that a boys' home isn't such a bad idea."

Sodapop's head snapped up as he stared at Darry in shock.

"What?! Are you crazy?!"

"I obviously suck at this. I'm not good at making you guys happy. Ponyboy obviously doesn't like the fact that I'm his guardian now."

"Darry, this is the whiskey talking."

"I didn't drink any damn whiskey."

"Well whatever it you drank has got you talking crazy. Now go sleep it off."

Darry rolled his eyes but luckily didn't argue. He got to his feet and the room swam before his eyes as he staggered a little. He reached out to grab the wall but Soda quickly moved forward and grabbed him so he could help him to his room. Darry threw him a halfhearted grin that wasn't returned. Once they reached the bed, Darry collapsed down on it, Sodapop right beside him. He looked at his older brother with a serious expression as he tried to his best to make him feel better about his whole situation.

"Darry, you're upset, he's upset, but this will pass. You two guys, listen to me, trust me on this...this will change. Feelings will change. These are very angry feelings right now, this is an open sore. And you know how open sores heal? This is going to change. What I suggest is you guys give the next few days to cool down. Let's not even bring this up. Pretend that none of this happened."

Darry just gave him a look and Soda playfully rolled his eyes.

"Sure, we'll know in the back of our minds it happened. So let's do this, we'll all go back to hating Two-Bit next week."

That finally gave Darry a much needed laugh as he nodded.

"Yeah. And I won't drink anymore."

"Good," Soda said with relief. "I don't want you guys feeling uncomfortable. And in a sense I take some blame for all of this, now this has gone overboard. and I'm contributing if I allow this to go on. I see that Pony is deeply hurt and I see that you're deeply hurt."

"And I don't trust myself now because I crossed a line I never thought I would cross," Darry admitted.

The two brothers continued to talk for a few more minutes, Soda even managed to get another laugh or two out of Darry before he had finally laid down and fell right to sleep. Sodapop didn't mind comforting Darry on this whole thing since he had worked so hard to take care of him and Pony. He hated seeing him like this, thinking that he was a failure because that was the last thing he was. He just hoped now Ponyboy would listen to reason. Once he left Darry's room he walked over to the bedroom he now shared with his younger brother and was relieved to see him there, changing out of his clothes.

"Hey, Pony-" Soda began but the younger boy cut him off before he could continue.

"Soda, would you mind sleeping in your own room tonight?"

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Sodapop continued to watch Ponyboy as he seemed to really pay him no mind. Soda had been sharing a bed with Pony for months now because of the nightmares he had shortly after their parents had died.

"Uh...yeah. You sure you'll be okay?"

Ponyboy stopped what he was doing to glance over at him.

"I'm not a baby, Soda."

"I know, I just..."

Soda trailed off as he could see by the expression on Ponyboy's face and his tone that he was bothered about something. He decided not to push things any further.

"Okay. Maybe if you're awake early enough you can help me out with breakfast."

However, Ponyboy didn't respond. Soda watched him for only a second longer before shutting his door and making his way to his own bed, figuring that whatever was now wrong with Ponyboy would be gone by the morning. What Sodapop didn't know was that Pony had been right outside the screen door and had heard what Darry had said.

 _"I'm now starting to think that a boys' home isn't such a bad idea."_

He had walked off after hearing that and had a cigarette to calm himself down before finally heading in the house to see that his brothers had gone off to Darry's bedroom, Sodapop probably having to do his best to talk him out of it. So Darry did want to stick him in a boys' home. He had known it. He had always known it. Darry didn't want him there.

"Well, if you had such a problem with me, you don't have to have it," Ponyboy angrily said as he threw himself down on his bed.

Right then, Ponyboy decided he wouldn't give Darry the opportunity or the satisfaction. He was going to run off someplace and take care of himself. Someplace without any greasers or socs. Maybe he could convince Johnny to come along with him. Ponyboy just needed some money to get himself started. That's when Curly offer of that 'bridge wars' competition then entered his mind.

'You can't do that. Darry will skin you alive if he finds out,' A voice in in his head, that sounded an awful lot like Sodapop, like he was still lying here beside him spoke.

"So let him try," Ponyboy said out loud as he rolled over on his other side, agitated. "I don't give a hang what Darry does. He's never gonna find out."

It may have not been the best plan, but it was the only thing he could think of at the moment in order to quickly get himself some money. He just needed to come up with the sixty dollars to get himself in. He had been able to save up and put aside twenty dollars when the gang gave him money for his fourteenth birthday, how in the world was he going to come up with the other forty? That question kept him tossing and turning for most of the night, or at least that's what he tried to tell himself. It was that, not the absence of Sodapop laying right next to him.


	4. Chapter 4

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The Sunday morning routine at the Curtis house was a rather simple one. Roughhousing and wrestling would start off the day, cooking breakfast would follow, then they would finally meet up with the rest of the gang for games of football that would usually last till late in the afternoon before heading home to crash for the night. But right off the bat, Sodapop knew it wasn't going to go down like that today as he stood alone in the kitchen making up some scrambled eggs. Darry hadn't come out of his room as he was still sleeping off the large amount of alcohol he had consumed last night. Soda hoped he didn't have a hangover. Sunday's were typically the only day of the week were Darry had off from both his jobs, so the possibility of missing work wasn't an issue but that wasn't what Soda was worried about.

Darry never drank, so what had gone on between him and Ponyboy must have effected him very deeply. Pony being out so late Friday night which led into two a.m. Saturday morning, Darry hitting him, Pony running back out and coming home a few hours later, and then going off on Darry like that. The whole thing seemed like one long, bad dream. The kind that Ponyboy starting having after their parents had died...the whole reason why Soda began sleeping with him in the first place. He never did mind doing it, which is why he was so taken aback when Pony had asked him to sleep in his own room last night. It made him worry about how Ponyboy was handling this situation too.

He tried to think of different scenarios in which none of this had to have happened. Maybe he should have gone out looking for Pony instead of falling asleep on the couch, or maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut when Darry was hollering at Pony, as much as he hated seeing it. And then maybe Darry would have just grounded Pony for a couple of weeks and things would have slowly gone back to normal. Soda tried talking to Darry last night and would try again once he was in a clear state mind, and maybe now that he had a night to himself, Ponyboy could have some sense talked into him.

Sodapop made quick work of his eggs and chugged down a glass of chocolate milk before getting up and heading over to Ponyboy's room. Soda slowly pushed open the door to see his younger brother sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on his shoes.

"Hey," Pony said, stopping for only a second to look up at his brother. "What's up, Soda?"

"Well, that's really the question I came to ask you," Soda responded as he walked further inside.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's start off with you wanting to sleep by yourself last night."

"Why is that so weird? I'm not a baby, despite what _Darry_ might think. I don't need a babysitter. You know it had to happen eventually."

"Sort of came out of the blue, don't you think?"

Pony didn't answer as Soda sighed. He quickly realized that his younger brother was still in a mood, and that his role of peacemaker wasn't going to go over well. Still, he had to try.

"Is this about Darry?" Soda then asked.

"No," Ponyboy said, his tone sharp as he got to his feet. "And I really don't want to go into it right now."

"You know he's awfully sorry, Pony."

"I don't care."

"Why don't we all just try and work this out?"

"No."

"Not 'no.' _Yes_." Soda nearly snapped back, something he never did with Pony. "You don't want to keep being mad do you?"

"I'm not mad, Soda," Pony answered. "I'm just going to live my life. And you know what? I think things are going to be better off from now on."

"But it won't. There's going to be all this tension-"

"I think what I'm doing is removing the source of the tension."

"By doing what? Ignoring Darry?

"I think so."

Ponyboy instantly felt guilty when he saw the disappointed look that came over Sodapop's face as he quickly slipped by him and out of the house. He just wasn't in the mood for this, especially after hearing what Darry said last night about him being better off in a boys home. He had one week to come up with what he needed in order to get into the bridge wars competition. Then he could get out of here and have some money to give him a good start.

XXXXXXXX

The next couple of days inside the Curtis house were uncomfortable to say the least. In the morning, Ponyboy would be awake, ready and out the door without bothering to head into the kitchen for breakfast. Neither one of his brothers said anything to stop him. When school was over and it was time for Darry to come home, Pony had already ate, showered and was back in his room for bed. Darry never questioned him on his schoolwork or anything, he would just let his youngest brother continue to be mad at him until he finally decided he wasn't anymore. It did bother Darry a lot, even the brief moments where Pony and him would be at the same vicinity, Pony wouldn't even look at him. But Darry decided not to push it out of fear that it would drive Pony even further away.

It was unually quiet in the house as the silence had spread to Sodapop and Darry as nether one really spoke that much to each other, nor were Soda and Ponyboy. It was like the three of them were ghosts just drifting throughout the house, each one of them acting like the other didn't exist.

And while the lingering affects of the fight still plagued Ponyboy as well, he was dealing with another dilemma...coming up with the rest of the money. It was now Friday and he was no closer to having the other forty dollars needed. Obviously he couldn't go to either of his brothers for it and he didn't have enough time to do any sort of neighborhood jobs. Out of desperation he ended up going to members of the gang. Two-Bit suggested he knock over a Dairy Queen and Steve simply laughed in his face.

"Come on, Steve," Ponyboy pleaded while hating himself. "I'll pay you back."

"With what? Your tooth-fairy money?"

Steve then laughed again as he went back to cleaning a car as every hateful word Ponyboy knew entered his mind as he turned away and left the DX in search of the last person he could go to, Dally.

Some how or another Dally always had money on him but the chances of him lending Ponyboy forty bucks was slim and none. Still, he had to try. Ponyboy walked until he saw Buck Merrill's place in the distance. He had always been told by Darry to stay away from that place and that suited Pony just fine but he had heard from Johnny that Dally had been staying there lately and figured that's where he'd begin his search for him.

Running up to the door, Pony knocking loudly to get Buck's attention.

After about a minute of waiting, he heard some stumbling from inside before the door opened up and he was now facing Buck.

"What?" Buck asked, words slurring a little. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Buck." Pony said, brows furrowing a little. From the looks and sounds of it, the older man had already been drinking.

"What do you want?" Buck asked again as he eyed the younger boy. "You're not in trouble are you, kid? I don't need the fuzz on my tail, I got my own problems."

"I'm not in any trouble."

"Then what do ya want? Your older brother doesn't like you bein' here."

"Yeah...Darry doesn't like a lot of things," Ponyboy muttered. "I'm looking for Dally. I heard he's staying here."

"He's here alright." Buck then stepped aside. "Well come in then, make yerself at home kiddo, but if I get in trouble cuz of you I'm taking it out on yer hide," he said letting Pony in and watching Pony head toward the pool tables.

"You won't get in trouble." Pony said as he eyed a pool table. "Just tell Darry it was my idea. He wouldn't shout at you any way. He only ever shouts at me."

Buck then stumbled again as he headed for the stairs.

"I'll get Dally, but I got to warn ya, he's still in a foul mood over losing a poker game last night."

As he made his way up the second floor, Ponyboy cursed as he walked over and slumped down on one of the couches in frustration. He didn't want to deal with Dally in any kind of mood, and if had lost at poker Pony imagined that meant he lost money as well.

Deciding this was a lost cause, Pony moved to get up just as he looked over and saw Buck's jacket on the cushion right next to him. And that's when he did a quick double-take of what he had just saw. A roll of money was sticking out from one of the pockets. Looking back at the staircase, Ponyboy swallowed the lump in his throat while licking his lips with nervous excitement as he reached for it.

Taking the money out, Pony quickly went through it. Twenties, tens, fives. There was over one-hundred dollars here easy. Thinking way too much out of desperation and not on whether it was right to do it or the consequences of getting caught, Pony snatched two twenties from the roll before shoving it back into the jacket pocket, before taking off, running from Buck Merrill's place as fast as his legs could run.

Ponyboy didn't stop until he reached his house as he quickly headed into his room. Pulling up his mattress, Pony reached under and grabbed the twenty dollar bill he kept under it. He then smiled as it joined the two other bills he had just taken. He had the sixty dollars needed.

After waiting until his pulse rate came back down to normal, Ponyboy shoved his hands in his pockets as he began making his way to the Shepard house. Once he arrived he saw Curly standing outside with some hood he didn't recognize.

"Hey, Curly!" He called, getting his attention.

Curly looked over, surprised to see him.

"Just a second," Curly said to his buddy before heading over to Ponyboy. "What'chu doing here Curtis?"

"Listen, I want in," Pony answered, nervous energy still coursing through his body. "To the bridge wars competition."

"You said it was stupid."

"I never said that."

"You implied it," Curly responded before shaking his head. "Besides, you gotta put up sixty bucks to get in."

"I've got it."

Pony pulled out three twenty dollar bills from his pocket causing Curly's eyebrows to raise in surprise.

"Where do you get that?"

"Don't worry about it. So, am I in or not."

"Fine, you're in. It will be like taking candy from a baby."

"Don't be so sure," Ponyboy responded, trying to sound as tough as he could while shoving the money back in his pocket.

"You don't even know what you're in for."

That was true, he didn't. This wasn't a rumble, or an after school fight, or anything he had been apart of before. He had never seen or heard of bridge wars before, but he was a Curtis just like Darry and Sodapop. He had held his own in fights before, he could hold his own in this. Especially since he had reason to be in it. Ponyboy needed this money.

"That's a lot of money to be puttin' up," Curly's voice broke through his thoughts. "A couple of Brumley Boys will be in it, members of the Tiber Street Tigers, Maniac Drifters, El Diablos...you sure about this?

"I've never been more sure about anything."

"Fine. Come by the house at nine-thirty. Tim and I will give you a ride to where it's taking place. Then..."

"Then, what?" Ponyboy asked after the other boy trailed off.

Curly shrugged.

"I guess we'll see how you'll do."


	5. Chapter 5

XXXXXXXX

Ponyboy tried his best to sleep but could only toss and turn most of the night, the nervous energy moving throughout his body as thoughts of the competition that awaited him the following morning wouldn't leave his mind. Once daylight broke, Pony ate a light meal before getting dressed and slipping out of the house before being noticed by either of his brothers. With the sixty dollars shoved into the right pocket of his blue jeans, he made his way to the Shepard house. As he got closer, Pony could see Curly sitting in the front seat of his older brother's car, the ignition was turned on and a song from the Monkees was blaring from the radio. Slowly making his way over, Ponyboy placed his hand on the sill of the car door as he greeted his friend.

"What's going on, Curly?"

"Get in," Curly responded, motioning with his head for him to get in the back.

"Tim knows I'm going, doesn't he?" Pony asked while opening the car door.

"Yeah, I told him."

After about a minute or two of waiting, Tim exited the house while pulling on his faded brown leather jacket. The older boy then opened the driver's side door and got into the car.

"Hey, Tim," Pony nervously greeted.

"You better not be wasting my time," Tim growled. "You've got the money?"

Ponyboy took it out of his pocket and held it up from him to see. Tim then reached back and snatched it out of his hand. He counted it to see if it was the right amount before tossing it back to him. No more words were said among the three of them as Tim then pulled the car out of the driveway and began making his way to where Ponyboy guessed the location of the bridge wars would be taking place.

They jumped on interstate 44 and drove for a good twenty minutes before they reached Bixby. As much as Pony tried, he simply couldn't memorize the way and knew he had to rely on the Shepard's to get him both there and back. It was pretty cloudly out today, Ponyboy didn't know what the weather was going to be but it looked like it might rain at any second.

Driving through a couple of neighborhoods, they reached a vacant lot where a collection of cars had gathered. Upon parking, Tim wordlessly turned off the ignition and got out with Curly and Pony following suit. They walked across a long empty road that intersected the woods by a lake. As he walked, Pony could hear the commotion of people talking nearby.

As they walked further along side the river, it was then did Ponyboy see the bridge up ahead. It wasn't what he was expecting as he could tell it was a makeshift bridge, built much larger than necessary for the kind of river it crossed. It didn't look that deep and there could be rocks underneath. Hitting the water from such a height would be like hitting concrete. The bridge was at least twenty feet off the ground, maybe more. There were no ropes or railing on either side of it didn't look that sturdy.

It had to have been built specifically for this competition.

Ponyboy had been so caught up in examining the bridge he hadn't even paid attention to the fact that he was now amongst a fairly large group of people who had accepted the invitation to be apart of this event.

It was quite a gathering, Billy Coleman and Glenn Anderson from the Tiber Street Tigers, Vincent Barnes from the Maniac Drifters, 'Puerto Rican Eddie' from the El Diablo's. Another older teen with messy jet black hair Pony only knew as Slade from the River Kings. A couple of guys from Brumley Street were here. The others Ponyboy knew from face, seeing them in town or in school from time to time. All except for one.

Pony nudged Curly.

"Who's that?" He asked, nodding in the direction of the boy.

"Oh, that's Mark Jennings," Curly answered. "New kid, word is he likes to live on the edge. Today, someone is gonna push him off of it."

There was a kind of sick smirk that Curly now had that Ponyboy shrugged off as he kept his eyes wandering amongst the group. Finally, he saw someone with a blonde, almost white head of hair with his back to him, leaning up against a tree while finishing a cigarette. Once he threw it to the ground and stepped on it, he spun around and he instantly locked eyes with Ponyboy.

Dally stared at Ponyboy, and by the look on his face, Pony could tell that the older greaser was more than surprised to see him here.

"Alright everyone, listen up," Tim began. "I'm happy to see y'all made it here. The rules are simple, two at a time go up the bridge. The first person to knock the other off wins and heads off into the next round. There are no weapons except for these,"

One of the boys from the Shepard gang came up beside him with two bo-staffs in either hand. They were about the same length as a pool cue, but much thicker.

"Everyone hand your money to Dally," Tim then instructed. "If you ain't got the cash, you might as well leave right now."

One by one, everybody in the group did so. Ponyboy was the last one to hand over his entrance fee, avoiding Dally's eyes the whole time. Once he paid up, he spun around on his heels to walk away but was suddenly yanked backwards by his shirt. His back hit Dally's chest before he was roughly turned around to face him.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Dally asked.

"Curly told me about this," Pony nervously answered as Dally let him go. "I wanted in."

"Why?"

"I needed the money."

Dally still looked confused, Pony quickly changed the subject;

"I thought you were going to be competing."

"I was, but I'm still a little banged up from my last rodeo."

He flexed his right shoulder and grimaced a little from the pain. The younger greaser then began to bite the nail of his index finger.

"You're not going to tell Darry about this are you?"

"So he doesn't know?"

Ponyboy shook his head. Dally whistled.

"Shoot kid, I ain't lookin' to get my head beat in. Whatever you're doing is on you."

"Got any advice for me?" The younger boy then asked.

Taking a look back at the bridge, Dally shrugged.

"Hit 'em low, hit 'em hard."

Dally then walked away to stand by himself as Ponyboy sighed heavily. He figured that was the best advice he was going to get.

Tim and Billy were up first. They took the staffs and climbed up on either side of the bridge, slowly walking on to it and meeting in the middle. The stared at one another, waiting for first person to make a move before Billy took a wild swing for Tim's head.

Tim ducked and blocked another shot that was headed towards his gut. Tim then slammed the end of his bo-staff into Billy's face, knocking the other teen backwards. Thick, red blood began to pour from a gash that had opened up on Billy's right cheek. He quickly wiped it away on the sleeve on his blue-jeans jacket, which became stained with a putrid crimson.

Billy tried his best to fight back but that hit to the face had done too much damage. Tim nailed him with another shot with the staff, this time to the chest which knocked him off the bridge. Yelling out as he did a flip in mid-air, Billy crashed into the water below as the on-lookers all let out a collective;

"Oooooooo."

All except for Pony who had watched in wide-eyed shock. At that moment, the reality of the situation he had gotten himself into struck Ponyboy like a slap to the face. Right then, an inner voice that sounded very much like Darry spoke;

 _'You never use your head, Ponyboy.'_

"Shut up," Pony snapped. "It's because of you I'm even doing this in the first place."

Curly blinked as he looked at his friend in confusion.

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

Pony then realized that he had spoken out loud.

"Nobody."

Pony then walked away from the group to stand by himself while continuing to mentally curse out his oldest brother. He watched as Billy pulled himself up out of the water and sat on the ground, blood still pouring out of the nasty cut on his face. Slade and Vincent Barnes were up next.

Once on the bridge the two charged each other, the staffs made a wooden thud as they clashed together, while they stood locked in a stance.

Slade jumped back to gain space, however, Vincent quickly followed, jumping towards Slade and bringing his bo-staff down towards the older boy's head. Slade dodged the attack, narrowly moving to the side and slammed his staff into the teen's side. The force of the blow was enough to cause Vincent to stumble over his feet and fall from the bridge.

Once Vincent dragged himself from the water he slumped to the ground while he moaned about his shoulder being separated. Ponyboy swallowed nervously as Puerto Rican Eddie was up next against someone he didn't know. Eddie managed to win when his opponent's staff missed his head by a couple of inches. He used the momentum to grab the weapon and pull in forward while stepping sideways into the other boy's space, causing him to fall right off the bridge.

It was Curly's turn after that. He was actually going up against someone from his own crew who Curly managed to knock off within a minute after a shot to the gut before nailing him again in the back with the staff. These matches certainly didn't last long, so at least it would be quick, but Ponyboy couldn't guarantee it would be painless if…or when he lost.

He could only image Darry's reaction if he came home with some kind of injury. That would probably make his oldest brother look twice as fast into putting him in a boy's home. That thought, along with the fact that there wasn't much more to go before it was his time to go up there caused him to start chewing on the nail of his index finger on the other hand.

"Taylor!" Tim then called. "Mark! You guys are next!"

Ponyboy focused on the kid that Curly identified as Mark Jennings heading up on the bridge next. Taylor from the River Kings followed to the other side. Mark had a smirk on his face as he waited, making the other boy sweat. He certainly was cocky, Pony thought as Taylor finally struck out with his staff which was easily blocked before Mark nailed him in the ribs, then his left shoulder within three seconds. Mark was able to shove him backwards causing Taylor to fall, landing flat on his back when he struck the water, which caused woops and hollers from everyone down below.

It was impressive, no doubt, but Ponyboy was now trying to come up with his own strategy for when he was up there. He thought back to each one of the matches and remembered what Dally had said. Hit him low, hit him hard. No one had really gone for the legs in any of their attacks. Almost everyone had started out by going for the head.

"Hey Curtis!" Tim yelled, which Ponyboy to jump. "Your turn!"

Tim then yelled out to a boy named Jason, one of the Brumley boys. This was it, there was no going back now. Ponyboy licked his dry lips as he felt his heart rate pick up even quicker when his name was called. He glanced over his shoulder and Dally was staring at him now, giving him a nod as if to wish him good luck, knowing that he was more than likely going to get his butt kicked.


	6. Chapter 6

XXXXXXXX

Forcing himself to move, Ponyboy was handed a bo-staff by Curly as he headed up to the bridge with Jason, his opponent from Brumley Street going up the opposite side. A part of him just wanted to get knocked off and fall into the water with as little pain as possible and go back to coming up with a plan 'B' in running away from home.

'That's pathetic," Pony then mentally cursed himself for the thought as he made the climb. "You're a Curtis, same as Darry and Sodapop.'

He stepped onto the narrow walkway of the bridge and forced himself not to look over to the possible fall down below. Jason was quickly approaching him, looking more than ready for this. One way or another, the only way out of this now was to fight. He had always fought well before in rumbles, but he always had someone to watch his back in case he got in trouble. For this, Ponyboy could only rely on himself.

Once only mere inches separated the boys, Jason swung, going straight for his face. Instinctively, Pony ducked before pulling his staff up and slamming right into the other boys kneecap. Yelling out in pain, Jason clutched as his leg with one hand while trying to keep Pony back with his staff. Pony's eyes widened as he realized what he had just did.

Meanwhile, down below, Dally swore as he looked on.

"Damn it, Pony. You did something good don't just stand there and look amazed."

It was almost if the younger greaser heard him as Ponyboy pulled himself up from his crouched position, took the staff and swung with all his might into Jason's leg, clipping his left ankle. Jason was swept from his feet and he tumbled off the side of the bridge. His arms flailed as he tried to grab onto the walkway, succeeding for only a moment before his hand slipped and he went crashing down to the water below.

He heard the sound of the splash, along with the yelling of the others watching but Ponyboy only stood there, hands still gripping the staff so hard his knuckles were turning white. A smile slowly came over his face as the realization came to him.

He had won. He had just won.

All previous fear and doubts suddenly melted away as Ponyboy thought that maybe he could do this. He could win the whole thing, win the money he needed for him and Johnny to run away and find better lives for themselves.

Ponyboy walked down off the bridge and went over towards Dally who gave him a small punch to the shoulder as a wolf-like grin spread over his face.

"Not bad, kiddo."

"Is he okay?" Pony asked, now concerned about the Brumley Boy.

"Who the hell cares? You won." Dally obviously not sharing the same sentiment.

"Yeah," Pony responded as the adrenaline from the short fight began to ware off. He had won this round, but that only meant he had to do it again.

XXXXXXXX

Back at the DX gas station, Sodapop and Steve had just finished working on a car when they started goofing off, throwing a thick wet sponge at one another while they ran around the garage, crashing each other. It was a fun couple of minutes, something Soda desperately needed to take his mind off all the turmoil that was in his life right now. Not just the problems at home between his brothers, but girlfriend problems, something only Steve knew about.

The two of them laughed as they stopped messing around, the last thing they needed was to hear from the boss about that yet again as they made their way back out.

"So, did you hear back at all from Sandy?" Steve carefully asked, wanting to tread as easily as he could on the subject.

Sodapop took a deep breath.

"Yeah. My letter came back…returned unanswered."

Steve frowned.

"I'm sorry, man."

"So am I."

Because of what had been going on in the house between Darry and Ponyboy, Sodapop hadn't brought up to either of them that Sandy had apparently been cheating on him. She was pregnant with someone else's baby and her parents sent her off to Florida to stay with her grandmother.

It really hurt Soda badly as his plans of one day asking Sandy to marry him were unexpectedly obliterated. Apparently she hadn't loved him as much as he had loved her. Steve was the only person he had confided to about this because he needed to talk to someone about it, as much as it hurt him.

But as much as Soda loved and trusted Steve, he would have much preferred to talk with his brothers about such an issue. If only things could go back to the way they were before their awful fight. It had seemed like ages ago, but in reality it had been just been a little over a week.

They made their way back over to the pumps when the roar of a car got the attention of both boys. Soda looked over to see Buck Merrill's T-Bird suddenly pull up in the parking lot.

"Curtis!" Buck growled while getting out of the car. "We need to talk!"

"Uh…sure," Soda responded, confused. "What about, Buck?"

"I'm looking for your brother, Ponyboy. Where is he?"

Sodapop's brows furrowed.

"I'm not sure at the moment. What'd you want with him?"

"The little bastard stole forty bucks from me!"

"What!?" Soda angrily replied. "Get out of here with that! My brother doesn't need to steal anything from you!"

"He came over to my place lookin' for Dally. He was the last person around my jacket when I realized I came up short."

Soda glanced over at Steve for a second before shaking his head.

"He wouldn't do that."

Buck then jagged a finger his chest.

"You just tell your brother that if he doesn't have my money, he's in line to get a whoopin'."

"Don't threaten my little brother," Soda snapped back while grabbing the sleeve of Buck's jacket but the older man pulled it off and shoved him back.

"Trust me, Curtis. It ain't a threat."

Buck then got back into his car and sped off. By that point, Soda was boiling mad at the accusation that Buck made against his little brother.

"What the hell was that asshole talking about?" Soda asked out loud. "Why would Pony take money from him?"

Steve rubbed his chin as he remembered;

"You know, Pony came asking me for forty bucks a day or so ago. Two-Bit told me that Pony asked him too."

To say that Steve's comment surprised Sodapop would have been an understatement.

"What would he need that money for?"

"He didn't say," Steve answered. "But I heard around town that the whole bridge wars thing was starting up again. You remember that don't you?"

Soda blinked.

"Bridge wars?"

XXXXXXXX

The bo-staff slammed into the jaw of Glenn Anderson before another shot to the chest knocked him off the bridge as Tim grinned in victory. He, along with Puerto Rican Eddie had just won their next matches. It was now Ponyboy's turn again as he was going up against Slade.

Slade was bigger than he was, about the size of Dally. He was going to need a lot more than a shot to the knee if he was going to beat him. Ponyboy wasn't as nervous as last time once he was on the bridge, facing off against Slade, bo-staff gripped firmly in hand.

Slade attempted to strike Pony with his staff, but Pony blocked the shot and came with one of his own that Slade dodged. Ponyboy leap towards Slade, hoping to get in a quick shot but Slade quickly came up and stuck Pony in the face with his staff.

Ponyboy momentarily saw stars as he dropped down to one knee to steady himself.

"Aw, did that hurt?"

Slade laughed as he went to hit him again but Ponyboy used his speed to his advantage, quickly moving backwards before using the end of his bo to rap the older boy on the wrist, hitting a spot that made Slade's hand go numb.

Slade yelled out in pain as his staff fell from his hands. Ponyboy then nailed him straight in the chest, causing him to tumble off the bridge.

Ponyboy sighed heavily as he cheek began to badly sting. He made his way back down to find Dally waiting for him.

"Come here, Pony," Dally ordered as he pulled him over. Dally pulled out some kind of rag from his jacket and was wiping his face. It was only then did Pony realize that he was bleeding.

"How bad is it?" Pony asked.

"It ain't pretty, but you ain't gonna need stitches."

Dally helped him clean up the cut as best he could while Curly Shepard and Mark Jennings were the last ones up. It was then did the sound of thunder echo throughout the area as a tiny splash of water hit Ponyboy's arm.

The final fight of this 'round' began. Curly swung for Mark's legs, but the other boy jumped to avoid the blow and came back with a stiff shot to the shoulder. Curly grimaced in pain as he glared at his opponent. Mark smirked as Curly swung wildly, recklessly. He managed to dodge as incoming shot, and after each block was able to get in a small, but effective hit of his own.

Curly's lip was now bleeding, as was a cut on the left eyebrow. He yelled out in anger as he came forward again but Mark sidestepped him and used his bo-staff to trip him, sending Curly falling, chest first to the water below.

He struck the water hard, and out of instinct Ponyboy jogged his way over towards the lake, entering the water as Curly emerged. He was drenched, bleeding, and not happy to say the least as he cursed up a storm in between spitting out lake water. The last thing he wanted was to lose, especially to a kid nobody knew, in front of his brother of all people.

Mark came down off the bridge, a cocky grin on his face as he twirled the staff in between his fingers as Ponyboy watched him. He would be his next opponent.

"Are you okay, Curly?" Pony then asked his friend as the other boy nursed his right arm.

"Get away from me, Curtis."

Curly then swore again as they both made their way out of the water. It was then did rain begin to fall from the sky as another crash of thunder went off. All of the guys gathered together.

"So what to we do now?" Eddie asked.

"Looks like we don't have much of a choice," Tim shrugged. "We'll have to finish this tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow. Same time, and it will be perfect since most people will be at church. Much less of a chance of someone stumbling upon what's goin' on."

Ponyboy sighed. As much as he would have liked to get this whole thing over and done with a break did sound good to him. And there was really no way they could continue this in the rain, too much of a chance of going up there and slipping off.

"How do we know he's going to come back with the money?" Mark asked, nodding his head in the direction of Dally.

Dally glared at him in return.

"Watch your mouth, little boy. I ain't like that."

"Yeah, don't worry, he ain't runnin' off no where," Tim responded. "Everyone be back tomorrow and we'll finish this."

The group then separated to head back to their cars and out of the rain but as Pony went to go with the Shepard's, he was pulled back.

"Come on," Dally said to Ponyboy. "I'll give you a ride home."

"But I-"

"No, I think there are some things we need to talk about."


	7. Chapter 7

XXXXXXXX

The rain was starting to come down much heavier now as Dally drove down the road at a fairly fast speed. Ponyboy shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Dally flicked the windshield wipers on. He had always liked fast driving, but doing so in the rain made him feel uneasy, that and the fact that Dally had told him he had wanted to talk to him about something, but they had been making their way for about five minutes now and the older boy still hadn't said a word. Ponyboy then gently touched the cut on his cheek which was now sore and badly bruised. He was going to have to make sure that neither Darry or Sodapop saw him for the rest of the day. Questions about what he was up to or what happened to him was the last thing he needed right now.

"Buck said you came by to see me the other day," Dally began. "But when I got downstairs you had already took off."

"Yeah," Pony responded, not knowing what else to say. He didn't want to tell him why he had came by in the first place, but sure enough...

"You know what else was gone? Forty bucks of Buck's money."

Ponyboy bit his bottom lip. He probably wasn't going to like where this was heading.

"Buck's pretty pissed off with you, kid," Dally continued. "He doesn't take people stealin' from lightly. When he gets a hold of you..."

"I'll pay him back after I win," Pony muttered as he looked down at his feet, feeling ashamed of what he did. He wasn't a thief and didn't take pleasure in stealing like some other greasers did. But he was desperate for the money.

Dally let out a laugh.

"When you win? You're gettin' a little a head of yourself there, don't you think?"

"I really didn't think I stood a chance at all when it first started, but now that I've gotten this far...I know I can do this. I can win."

"What did you need the money for anyway? What are you doing this for?"

"It's a long story," Pony sighed.

As Dally jumped on a back road, a short cut which would get them back to town a lot quicker he lit up a cigarette, one for himself, another for Ponyboy. He handed one to Pony, who accepted.

"Is this about Darry hittin' you?" Dally then asked.

Ponyboy looked over at the older boy in shock.

"Who told you that?"

"Two-Bit told me about it."

Gritting his teeth together, Ponyboy vowed to punch Two-Bit in his big mouth at the earliest opportunity.

"It was none of his business."

"Well, maybe not. But he seemed worried cause he also said you went off on Darry pretty good. I take it you guys haven't worked things out?"

Ponyboy shook his head.

"And Darry doesn't know what you're up to?" Dally questioned as he then took a guess at what Pony was really doing competing in the bridge wars. "So what's the plan here? Take the money and run away?"

"Something like that," Pony muttered as he took a long drag from the cigarette. "So, you gonna rat me out?"

Dally gave him a look and the younger greaser shifted in his seat nervously, knowing that he said the wrong thing. Fortunately for him, Dally let the comment go.

"Like I said, what you're doing is on you."

"You're right, it is."

"I would just give this some more thought if I were you. Even if you do get by that Jennings kid you know you'll facing Tim. He's gonna get by Eddie, then it will be just you and him in the end."

"You don't think I can beat him?"

Dally snorted.

"Take it from somebody who knows, Tim is fucking ruthless. Or maybe you weren't payin' attention to the guys he messed up today. Don't think for a second that he'll go easy on you, cause he ain't."

But the younger greaser had been paying attention. Ponyboy saw what Tim had done to Billy Coleman's face and Glenn Anderson's jaw. He certainly didn't want that to get done to him, but in the end it was nothing he couldn't recover from. Ponyboy really couldn't explain it, but now that was this far in, he needed to do this. He _needed_ to win. He needed to prove that he wasn't just some little kid who relied on his brothers to fight his battles. But the thing was, he didn't know if it was to prove it to himself, or to Darry.

"I can handle it," Pony finally said. "Nobody has gotten hurt _that_ bad."

Dally rolled down the window to let some of the smoke.

"Maybe you should have asked one of your brothers why bridge wars stopped in the first place."

Ponyboy's brows furrowed in confusion, but before he got the chance to ask him what he meant, Dally turned the radio on, turning up the volume as a Rolling Stones song came on. The two of them didn't speak for the rest of the ride back to town. Once they finally reached the Curtis house, Dally let him out, telling him he'd be here in the morning to pick him up. Pony nodded wordlessly as he got out of the car. He walked up the steps of the porch but froze once he approached the screen door at what he saw.

Darry was sitting on the recliner with newspaper in hand. What was he doing home so early? Ponyboy then looked further in the house and could see Sodapop in the kitchen. He then thought about going to find Johnny and hang out with him for the rest of the afternoon to kill some time. Maybe then he could sneak in, but he couldn't. He was too tired, Pony just wanted to crawl into bed. Lowering his head and taking a deep breath, he finally decided to face the music and walked into the house.

"Where have you been!?" Darry said while standing up. This had been the first words he had spoken to Ponyboy ever since he went off on him that morning.

'Deja-Vu,' Ponyboy thought to himself as he rolled his eyes but said nothing.

When Darry woke up and saw that Pony had snuck out to avoid him today, Darry finally decided that enough was enough and called out sick from work. He was going to wait in the house all day if that was what it took to finally work things out with Pony. Sodapop decided it'd be best if he stayed here too. It was then did Darry see the cut on his youngest brother's face.

"Pony, what happened to you?"

Darry went over and gently touched Ponyboy's chin, to get a better look at his face but Ponyboy shoved Darry with as much strength as he had. Darry was so unprepared for it, he stumbled backwards over his own legs and hit the coffee table, nearly tripping over it. Darry stared at his younger brother, both shocked and angry.

"Ponyboy, what the hell-"

"Don't touch me," Ponyboy seethed. "Don't you ever touch me again."

"What is your problem!?" Darry then yelled.

"You're my problem!" Pony yelled back. "And obviously I'm yours, that's why I don't want to talk to you anymore!"

"Well too bad, you're going to listen to me," Darry responded as he calmed down. "I'm sorry about hitting you, even though it wasn't completely undeserved if you want the truth."

Ponyboy narrowed his eyes as his oldest brother continued.

"For over a week now you've been sneaking in and out of the house, making sure to avoid me and I'm tired of it. It's going to stop because it's been affecting all of us. After today, I want things to go back to the way they were, and you know what I'm talking about."

"Well I really don't care what you want, or don't want. Cause _I'm_ tired of you always getting on my case! I if I get a B, you want an A. If I get an A, you want to make sure they stay A's. If I'm in the house reading I should be out playing football, if I'm out playing football I should be inside reading. NOTHING IS EVER GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU AND I'M SICK OF IT! I'M SICK OF YOU!"

Darry clenched and relaxed his fist a couple of times. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Sodapop was drying the exact same dish ever since Ponyboy had walked into the house. He been staring at his hands, not saying anything, not getting involved.

"You really have no idea do you?" Darry quietly said before yelling again. "I WORK MY ASS OFF TO SUPPORT YOU AND SODAPOP! DO YOU REALIZE THAT! EVER SINCE THE CAR ACCIDENT-"

But upon saying that Darry stopped yelling and swallowed the lump in his throat. He had never really talked about the accident with either of his brothers, since the funeral, none of them brought it up, it was still too painful.

"Yes, Darry, you're in the only one who's suffered since Mom and Dad died," Pony calmly responded. Normally he would have been afraid of his oldest brother being so angry and shouting, but for some reason he wasn't. Maybe cause him and Darry were finally getting all this off their chests.

"I stay on you about your grades because with your brains and grades you could get a scholarship, and we could put you through college," Darry spoke calmer too as he took a deep breath. "But if you really don't like the way I'm running things around here, you can just get out!"

Ponyboy gave Darry a hard look as he remembered his words about him being better off in a boy's home, the whole reason why he got involved in the bridge wars competition in the first place. He raised his chin and looked back in the kitchen at Sodapop.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Pony asked. "You'd like me just to get out. Well, it's not that easy, is it, Soda?"

He was going to continue but as they both turned to look at Soda, Ponyboy stopped. His face was white, and when he looked at me his eyes were wide with a pained expression. Ponyboy suddenly remembered Curly Shepard's face when he fell off a telephone pole and broke his arm.

"Don't...oh, you guys, why can't you..."

Soda then shook his head, dropping the plate in the sink and suddenly bolted out the door. Both Ponyboy and Darry were dumbstruck as Darry walked into the kitchen to see that Soda had dropped something, an envelope. Ponyboy in the meantime went out the door and chased after his brother as Darry sat down and began reading the letter.

"Oh man," Darry muttered as he pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut.

Meanwhile, Pony was chasing after Soda. Normally, he would have been able to catch up to him no problem but the bridge wars competition had taken a lot out of him today, he was too drained both physically and emotionally. Sodapop quickly disappearing from view.

"Soda, wait!" Pony hollered but he was gone.

Turning around, the youngest Curtis walked back to the house, seeing Darry sitting on the couch, looking just as bad as he felt.

"I lost him," he muttered.

Darry lifted up the letter.

"This is a letter Sodapop wrote to Sandy," he began. "She's gone to Florida. He told me he loved her, but I guess she didn't love him like he thought she did. She's pregnant but it's not his. He wanted to marry her anyway...but she just left."

Ponyboy felt like he had been punched in the stomach.

"I had no idea."

Darry stared at him with a puzzled expression.

"Didn't he tell you? I didn't think he'd tell Steve or Two-Bit, but I thought he told you everything."

"Maybe he tried," Pony answered. Guilt then overcame him as he finally dragged himself to his room, collapsing on the bed. Because of the tension in the house over the last week Ponyboy hadn't really noticed that something was bugging Soda. It was then did he realize that he had never paid much attention to Soda's problems. Darry and him just took it for granted that he didn't have any.

"I'm sorry, Soda," Pony muttered to himself as his eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. He drifted off to sleep.

Over the next couple of hours, Darry waited up, hoping that Sodapop would come back home. The phone rang, Darry quickly picked it up.

"Hello? Soda?"

"No, it's me," Steve replied on the other end.

"Oh, hey Steve," he sighed.

"Yeah, Sodapop is at my place. He was pretty upset when he dropped by, what happened?"

"Me and Ponyboy started arguing."

"He fell asleep on the couch. He doesn't want to come home."

Darry felt horrible about it, but he understood why.

"Alright, but could you tell him to please come home in the morning?"

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Darry then hung up the phone before placing his hands on his face, his fingertips rubbing his forehead. At that moment, he had never felt like more of a failure. He had made a silent promise to his parents that he would look after his brothers, that he would keep the family together. How could he let things get this bad? Where had he gone wrong? He slowly slumped over until his head hit the couch pillow as he squeezed his eyes shut. After a few minutes, this long, horrible day came to an end as he fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

XXXXXXXX

Jolting awake in the dead of night, Ponyboy stumbled out of his bed and into the living room having no idea just how late it was. Once his vision adjusted to the darkness he saw a figure sitting on the couch. A split-second of hope filled him as he imagined it to be Sodapop, finally come home after running off because of him. But, once he got closer Pony saw who it actually was…

"Hey, Pony," Johnny greeted upon seeing him.

"Oh, hi Johnny," Ponyboy responded, disappointment clear in his voice. Johnny must have picked up on it because he raised his eyebrows in response.

"Something wrong?"

"No."

Ponyboy shook his head as he moved around to sit down next to his friend.

"Well…actually…" After a heavy sigh, the younger greaser then began to explain. "Sodapop took off earlier, after me and Darry had another fight. He just couldn't take hearing it any longer."

Ponyboy then took a deep breath as he stared down at his feet, the immense guilt he felt was eating away at his guts. He never really gave much thought or even really cared for that matter as to how the on-going problem between him and Darry had been affecting Sodapop. Then to top it all off what happened with Sandy, how Soda had been unable to talk to him about it…he really didn't feel like a good brother right now.

"Don't worry," Johnny then spoke. "I'm sure he'll be back by tomorrow."

While he appreciated Johnny trying to give him some reassurance, it really didn't do anything for Ponyboy. The two of them then proceeded to sit in a sort of awkward silence for several minutes before it finally occurred to Pony that Johnny had no idea what he was doing as far as the bridge wars competition went.

"Hey Johnny…I've got a plan."

After saying that, Ponyboy looked over and gave his buddy a wolf-like grin that would have made Dallas Winston proud. Johnny's brows furrowed in confusion.

"What'd you mean?"

"Remember when you asked me that day at the bowling alley if I have a plan, you know…to deal with this?"

Understanding what his friend now meant, the older teen nodded. Continuing to grin, Ponyboy then said;

"We're going to run away."

Johnny blinked in surprise.

"Just like that?"

"Yeah," Ponyboy nodded. "Just take off. You and me, like we talked about that night in the vacant lot, remember? We're gonna run and keep going until we're far away from all of this."

The idea of running away and finding a better place was tempting…getting away from his parents, from the socs, but it made sense for _him_ to do that, not Pony. Truthfully, Johnny didn't believe that Ponyboy had really thought this all the way through, he was still just mad at Darry. And even though he had problems with oldest brother, he still had Sodapop, and he was smart, great at school. Ponyboy had a chance at a real future.

"Pony…why would you want to run away?" He asked.

"Because Darry said that I'd be better off in a boy's home. He's thinking about putting me in one."

That statement really surprised Johnny.

"I don't think he'd really do that."

"He said it, Johnny. I heard him," Ponyboy insisted. "And don't try to tell me that he didn't mean it, I don't even care if he didn't. Even if there's only a small chance that he was really serious about it…"

Ponyboy shook his head.

"If I'm gonna leave this house, it's going to be on my terms, not his."

"So what are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go?"

"West, out to the country. Someplace where there are no greasers and socs. We'll get away from all the fighting, lie about our ages, get jobs-"

Johnny looked away from Ponyboy as he started bouncing his right knee out of nervousness. Maybe Ponyboy had given this some thought after all.

"What about money?" Johnny then asked.

"That's what I'm working on. I'm gonna get us some money, enough to give us a good enough head start."

Johnny now had a worried look on his face which caused Ponyboy to grin again.

"Don't worry, I ain't doing nothin' illegal."

"You sound like it's a sure thing."

"Well…not exactly, but you've just gotta trust me on it."

For some reason, Ponyboy really didn't want to tell Johnny about bridge wars. He just didn't want Darry or Sodapop getting wind of it, and though he was sure Johnny wouldn't rat him out if he did tell him about it, Ponyboy figured the less people who knew what he was up to, the better. It was bad enough that Dally already knew.

Johnny stared at his friend, realizing that they really could do this. He had thought about running away before, now that he would actually do it, he wouldn't be alone.

"So…are you with me?" Ponyboy asked.

Johnny grinned back at him.

"I'm with you."

XXXXXX

For some reason, the talk with Johnny had put Ponyboy at ease and caused him to get the best night of sleep in days. He didn't have any nerves about finishing the competition when it began again the next day. However, upon waking up at eight-thirty in the morning and walking back into the living room, he saw that Johnny was gone and more to his surprise, Darry wasn't there either. His bedroom door was open and the truck was missing from the driveway.

Wandering his way into the kitchen, Ponyboy found a note on the counter.

 _Went over to Steve's place to talk with Sodapop._

 _Darry._

Ponyboy snored. Short and to the point. Darry didn't even bother to wake him to see if he wanted to go with him. He supposed it was best that his oldest brother went himself, Darry probably thought that he would say no. With the problems the two of them had been having, he couldn't exactly blame him, the last thing any of them needed was another fight. Once Soda was home he was sure that some kind of 'family meeting' was going to come next.

Taking out the container of chocolate milk, Ponyboy took a big gulp of it and was about to reach back inside the refrigerator for some eggs when the sound of a loud horn outside the house caused him to jump.

Ponyboy ran over to look outside the window and saw that it was Dally. He quickly pulled on his shoes as ran to the front door just as the horn went off again.

"You're early," Pony complained as he got in the car. "It doesn't start till nine-thirty, I haven't even had the chance to eat or really prepare-"

"Just shut up," Dally snapped. "Your going to a fight not a damn job interview."

Rolling his eyes but knowing better not to give some kind of response, Ponyboy settled in his seat as Dally pulled away from the house and began driving to the shortcut he knew to get to their destination.

"I'm gonna give it to you straight Pony," Dally then spoke. "You ain't gonna beat Tim Shepard."

Pony opened his mouth to argue but Dally continued on.

"He's too much for you. Tim will take anything you've got and keep comin'. All he needs is one good shot and he'll knock your ass right off that bridge. And he's got his crew there watchin' along with all the others, he's gonna want to make an example out of you and mess you up really good."

Dally looked over at Ponyboy and couldn't help but frown at the blank look on his face, as it seemed like the reality of what he had just said hit the younger greaser like a ton of bricks.

"You've got guts, Pony," Dally then said. "But it ain't enough. Trust me on this."

Ponyboy stared at the glove compartment in silence. Deep down, he knew what Dally had said was true. He had hope because he was riding high on the adrenaline of getting this far, and the thought of him and Johnny running away. But Tim Shepard was tough, strong, and a real hood. The only hope he had was getting a lucky shot, and even _that_ was only if he got by his first opponent, Mark Jennings who Ponyboy had almost forgotten about entirely.

But he didn't want to back out of this. For a lot of different reasons, he just couldn't.

"So what do I do?" Pony asked. "Not even bother to show up? You know, Tim could lose to Eddie-"

"He won't."

Again, Ponyboy didn't bother to argue. Dally gave him another look and sighed when he saw how discouraged Pony looked now. But he did have an idea of how the kid could win. It was dirty and downright low, but it just might work.

"I've fought Tim plenty of times, so keep your mouth shut and ears open. There's a move I always used whenever I got in trouble, it worked every time."

Ponyboy's eyes then brightened with hope. Dally had gotten into tons of fights with Tim over the years, he would got to have some good insight on this. It had to be clever on what he could tell him-

"Nail him in the nuts," Dally said.

 _"What?"_

Dally couldn't help but laugh a little at Ponyboy's incredulous response.

"You heard me. Take that bo-staff and nail him right in the nuts, as hard as you can. Believe me, even the toughest hood will go down after that."

"You want me to cheat?"

The older boy smirked at him.

"I want you to _win_. And it ain't cheatin', no one even said that was against the rules."

"Oh, that's just brilliant advice. Thanks a lot!"

"Hey, unless you've got a better plan, do it. You want the money, or not?"

Slapping a hand to his forehead, Ponyboy squeezed his eyes shut as Dally continued to drive on. This bridge wars competition wasn't going to have a good ending no matter what happened. Deep down, he just knew it.

In the meantime, Darry had arrived at Steve's place. He headed into the living room to see Sodapop sitting on the couch, the place he had spent the frowned as he saw that Sodapop looked weary and down right miserable. His easy-going and untroubled demeanor seemed to be a thousand miles away.

"Hey, Pepsi-Cola," Darry spoke gently as he took a seat next to him. "You feel like coming home now?"

Soda smiled a little at Darry using their Dad's old nickname for him. He looked over at him and then his eyes wandered, realizing that he was alone.

"Where's Ponyboy?"

"He's back at the house, he's fine."

Soda then remembered something and he quickly jumped to his feet.

"Darry, I think Ponyboy's in trouble."

Darry's brows furrowed.

"Why do you say that?"

"I think he's up to something, something that involves bridge wars."

Darry went stone-faced upon hearing that.

"Bridge wars?"

Darry and Sodapop both stared at each other as they remembered.

"How do you know?"

"Tim Shepard started it up again," both brothers looked over as Steve had entered the room. He had been listening in nearby, just to hear how things went between them. Steve then continued on; "I even got asked if I wanted in on it. Ponyboy asked me if he could borrow forty bucks, promising he'd pay it back. And then Buck Merrill came by the gas station looking for him, saying that Pony took the money from him."

Shaking his head, Darry stared at the floor, not believing what he was hearing.

"It's true, Darry," Sodapop insisted. "And that cut that Ponyboy had on his face when he came home yesterday..."

Darry and Sodapop got into the truck and drove home as fast as they could. But when they got there, they found the house empty, their little brother was no where to be found.

"Damn it, Ponyboy," Darry swore. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

He knew that Ponyboy didn't use his head, but even Darry didn't think he would do something like this. But then again, he didn't _know._ Ponyboy really didn't know about bridge wars, he didn't know that Darry had been involved in it before, he didn't know what happened...

"Do you think it's still being held at that spot in Bixby?" Soda asked.

Darry shook his head. That's where it had always been held before.

"Good a spot as any to look. Let's go!"

They both turned and ran back out of the house. Darry headed to the driver's side but-

"Hey, throw me the keys," Sodapop insisted. "I drive faster than you."

The oldest Curtis didn't bother to argue, he didn't have time.


	9. Chapter 9

XXXXXXXX

Braced down on one knee as a cool wind breezed through the air, the blood of 'Puerto Rican' Eddie dripped off the laceration along his hairline, down to the walkway of the makeshift bridge that had become the battleground for himself and Tim Shepard. Everyone who had been here yesterday had come back to see the outcome of the competition. All were down below watching, whooping and hollering but none were paying more attention than Ponyboy. He was rubbing his hands together nervously, as all he could think was that this is what could be awaiting him.

At this point, Tim was just toying with Eddie because he could just knock him off the bridge so easily right now, but seemed more content on causing his opponent as much pain as possible. Eddie's lip was fat and split wide, blood dribbling with spit off of his chin. His right eye was swelling, the brow cut badly as blood was flowing free down his face. Tim stood over him, bo-staff ready in hand as he prepared to nail Eddie once more

"I thought you spics were supposed to be tough," Tim taunted as a wicked smirk appeared on his face. "Is this really the best you've got?"

Spitting some blood out of his mouth, Eddie glared up at him with his one good eye.

"Go screw your sister, Shepard."

That was certainly the wrong thing to say. Eddie pushed himself back up and tried to keep himself balanced on the narrow walkway. He swung widely, trying to connect with anything but he was too messed up to properly defend himself at this point. Tim easily dodged and came back with a shot of his own, hitting Eddie hard on his right temple with the staff. The force sent him sideways as his ears rang and he let himself tumble off the bridge, crashing down to the water below with a hard splash.

Some, namely members of the Shepard Gang cheered, others cringed. Ponyboy just felt a cold pang hit his stomach as it was now his turn. He looked through the crowd of people until he locked eyes with Mark Jennings.

From what he remembered, Mark liked to stick and move, frustrate his opponent in to coming to him first. He was also fast, but Ponyboy was quicker thanks to his days in track. Once someone handed him the bo-staff, Pony turned and began climbing his way up to the bridge. Mark was now standing in front of him and they sized each other up.

"Let's see what you've got, Pussy-Boy," Mark smirked as he twirled the bo-staff in between his fingers.

Ponyboy kept himself ready, but didn't take the bait to move in for an attack like he knew the other boy wanted.

"Come on, chicken shit," Mark taunted again. "I'm standing here waiting. Aren't you gonna fight?"

Again, Pony didn't react. He watched Mark's movements carefully and could see he was starting to become agitated by his lack of reaction. The seconds were ticking by like minutes and by this point the others watching down below were starting to boo and yell for the two of them to fight.

A bead of sweat then appeared on Mark's forehead and at that moment, Ponyboy could see the wait was finally getting to him. Just then, Mark swung for Ponyboy's ankles.

Seeing it coming, Pony jumped to avoid it and once he landed, came back with a shot towards Mark's exposed mid-section. It got him, not as hard as Pony would have liked, but it was enough to send him stumbling back two steps.

The two of them then swung at the same time, their wooden staffs clashing together. They pushed against each other in a sort of test of strength. Mark and Ponyboy both dug their heels into the ground as they pushed each other back and forth before Mark shoved with more strength, sending Ponyboy stumbling backwards.

Lifting his staff up, Mark then went for Ponyboy's head. The younger boy ducked and came forward, his counter move was to target Mark's hands, which connected, knocking Mark's staff right out of his hand. He cursed loudly as he could only watch his bo-staff fly into the air.

Mark tried to turn to move away but Ponyboy got him with a shot to his shoulder blades that caused him to stumble over his own feet, doing a flip in mid-air before landing in the water.

People cheered Ponyboy's win, even some from the Shepard Gang, but they quickly shut up when Tim gave them a hard stare.

"Alright, this it," Tim spoke as he cracked his knuckles. "Last fight."

"Wait a minute," Dally cut in as Ponyboy came down off the bridge. "Give the kid a breather, you had time to rest."

Tim rolled his eyes but reluctantly agreed.

"You've got five minutes."

Dally led Ponyboy away from the others. He was breathing heavily, obviously tired from the fight, way more worn out than Tim was at this point.

"Breath, try to calm down," Dally said.

"I could use a cigarette right now."

Pulling one from his jacket pocket, Dally handed him one and a lighter. Ponyboy then looked at the older greaser and saw that Dally looked oddly proud.

"You did it, you made it to end."

"You saw what he did to Eddie?" Pony asked, rhetorically. "He didn't need to do all that."

"That's just how Tim is."

Ponyboy was about to ask for advice but quickly remembered Dally had already given him some. That caused Pony to snort and shake his head. The best he could hope for in order to win was land a cheap shot.

"Remember what I told you yesterday?" Dally then asked.

The younger boy thought for a moment.

"Yeah. Hit em' hard, him em' low."

Dally nodded.

"Be smart, don't be brave."

Ponyboy thought about that as he put out the cigarette. Maybe it was time he finally used his head and did the smart thing. After about several minutes went by, someone suddenly shouted;

"Hey! Time's up! Get your ass over here!"

Both Ponyboy and Tim were given bo-staffs and they walked up on opposite sides of the bridge before coming together in the middle as everyone down below whistled and cheered.

"Alright kid, I'm gonna give it too you straight," Tim began. "I like you, your gang has always had mines back. So why don't you do yourself a favor and just jump off? Otherwise I'm gonna have to hurt you."

Ponyboy raised his chin up, looking right into Tim's eyes.

"I'm not a coward, Shepard."

Tim shrugged.

"Fair enough."

Without warning Tim brought his staff down, right at Ponyboy as hard as he could. It was only his speed that saved him as he quickly got his own staff up and the two wooden weapons clashed together with a heavy thud, but the force caused Ponyboy to fall down.

Tim went for another hit, Ponyboy quickly scooted backwards which caused Tim to strike the walkway. Again, Tim lifted his bo-staff up just as Ponyboy quickly sat up and dove under Tim's legs.

He scrambled back up to his feet as Tim turned around and right then Ponyboy swung the staff as hard as he could, smacking Tim right across the face with it.

Ponyboy froze, half from shock, the other from amazement that he was able to get a hit in. Tim brought his hand up and wiped a little bit of blood that trickled out of his mouth away. Tim then looked back at Ponyboy, a grin coming to his face as he suddenly nailed Ponyboy right in the stomach, causing him to double over and begin coughing. Tim brought the staff down again, this time in the middle of Ponyboy's back.

The others were cheering on, Dally closed his eyes for a moment as he shook his head. What he was afraid of happening was now coming to pass.

Back on the bridge, Tim had positioned himself over Ponyboy, leaned down and placed his bo-staff under Ponyboy's chin, and pulled his head back, choking him with it.

Ponyboy spat out as he gasped for air, putting one hand underneath the wooden object that was choking him.

As soon as Dally saw this he pushed his way through the crowd, running as close as he could get to the bridge.

"Hey!" Dally yelled up at Tim. "Come on, Shepard, you ain't got to do that to beat him!"

Tim apparently heard him as he looked down and saw Dally before smirking at him, not letting up at all on the chokehold.

Clenching his fist, Dally was one second away from running up to the walkway and putting a stop to this. It would probably get Ponyboy disqualified but he didn't care. The last thing he wanted was for the kid to get seriously hurt. But just as Dally was about to turn on his heels to get up to the walkway, Tim finally let go.

Ponyboy rolled over so he was on his back as he gasped for air, his vision hazy. He gripped his bo-staff in his hands, tight as slowly regained his wits. He could then hear the older greaser begin to laugh as he then spoke;

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance to get out of this."

Tim stood over him and raised his staff up, Ponyboy quickly pulled his staff up and nailed Tim squarely between the legs.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" Collectively yelled the crowd when they saw that.

The staff dropped from Tim's hands as he bent over, clutching his groin area.

"You...cheatin'...little...fuc-" Tim managed to get out before Ponyboy ran towards him with his staff, knocking Tim and himself off the walkway.

Tim fell and hit the water with a loud splash as Ponyboy managed to hang on. He pulled himself back up onto the walkway and he breathed heavily as he looked down at the crowd below. By their silence he could tell they were shocked by the outcome. He continued gazing down below until he saw two figures pushing their way through the crowd.

Darry and Sodapop.

"What the hell is going on!?" Darry demanded.

"Oh, shit," Dally muttered to himself once he saw the brothers, glad he wasn't Ponyboy right now.

Darry then saw Ponyboy on top of the bridge.

"Ponyboy! Get the hell down here!"

"Oh man," Pony said to himself once he saw them. How the heck did they know where to find him? He was glad to see Sodapop, Darry on the other hand looked furious. What a surprise. This might be were Darry finally decides to put him into a boy's home. But that really didn't matter now. He had money, he had already talked to Johnny. They had a plan to run away.

Slowly, he made his way down off the bridge. Once he was back on the ground Soda ran over to him and pulled him into a tight hug. Honestly, at that moment, Ponyboy was so happy to see him he could have bawled.

"Are you hurt?" Soda asked.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Pony responded, remembering how Soda ran off the other night.

They let go of each other just as Darry made his way over to them.

"Pony, what were you thinking getting yourself involved in this? Do you know how bad you could have gotten hurt?"

Ponyboy sighed, this really wasn't what he needed right now. But fortunately, Dally had come to his defense.

"Don't worry," Dally said as he smirked at Ponyboy as he handed him the money. "It's all over, he won. I don't know how the hell you did it kid."

Dally gave him a punch on the shoulder, but then an angry voice yelled out;

"What a minute!"

Tim was drenched from the water and looked enraged as he stormed his way over to where Dally and the Curtis brothers had gathered, several members of the Shepard Gang following him.

"This ain't over, he cheated!"

"He didn't cheat, Shepard," Dally responded.

"It was cheap shot!" Tim yelled. "He hit me in the-"

"Never said it was against the rules."

"Give me my money." Tim then pulled out his switchblade and pointed it in the direction of Ponyboy. "Or I swear I'll cut your fuckin' throat!"

Seeing red, Darry lunged at Tim and punched him right in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you _ever_ threaten my kid brother."

Right after saying that, Darry was then punched by someone from Tim's gang and it was on. A brawl erupted as fists threw in every direction. Unprepared, Ponyboy caught one above the left eyebrow and was knocked to the ground. Dally was taking on two at once, Soda had somebody in a headlock while Tim was back up and going at it with Darry.

Darry seemed to be handling it fine until Tim managed to get a hold of his switchblade again and stabbed Darry in the upper right shoulder.

"Darry!" Ponyboy screamed.

Darry punched Tim again, knocking the blade out of his hand before grabbing his throat and punching him three more times. Tim fell to the ground, out cold as the others from the Shepard Gang tucked tail and ran off. Once they were out of sight, both Soda and Pony ran towards their older brother.

"Darry you were stabbed!"

"I'll live," Darry said, wincing as he placed pressure on the wound.

"Come on," Soda spoke. "We've gotta get you to the hospital."


	10. Chapter 10

XXXXXXXX

The stab wound had been bad, but in the end it wasn't anything a doctor couldn't fix up with stitches. While Darry was being taken care of by the doctor, Sodapop and Ponyboy waited outside of the emergency room as the youngest Curtis brother badly needed a cigarette due to the fact that he couldn't stop shaking. However, the cigarette was doing little to calm his nerves due to the fact that Sodapop wouldn't stop badgering him.

"I can't believe you got yourself involved in this," Soda hissed. "What in the world were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, Soda," Ponyboy responded, quite miserably due to the guilt he felt about Darry's injury. "I don't know what else to say."

Soda sighed as he shook his head.

"Come on, let's go back inside."

Finishing the smoke, Pony managed to relax just a little and followed his brother back in the hospital. They took a seat next to each other and continued to wait for the doctor to finish up.

"I still can't believe it," Soda said, yet _again_ , while shaking his head which caused Ponyboy to roll his eyes this time.

"Soda, don't you think you're making too much of a big deal about this?"

Soda snapped his head over to give Pony a look of disbelief.

"No, I don't."

"Soda-"

"How much do you know about bridge wars? I mean, did anyone ever tell you why it stopped happening in the first place?"

Pony thought hard about that for a few moments before answering.

"Yeah…Curly told me some kid got hurt pretty bad. Is that right?"

Soda nodded.

"Yeah. It was Darry who did it."

That caused Ponyboy bolt right up in his chair.

"What!?" Pony yelled, completely shocked at what he had just heard.

"Shhh."

Hospital workers were now looking in their direction but Pony was oblivious to that as he stared at his brother intently, wanting to know the story.

"Are you really telling me that-"

"It wasn't intentional," Soda sighed heavily as he began to explain. "Look, it was the summer before Darry's senior high school year, his buddy Paul Holden got them both involved in bridge wars."

"Did Darry make it to the end?"

Soda nodded.

"Yeah, and I was there. It was the last fight, Darry knocked this kid off the bridge…I forget his name, but when he landed, his head hit a rock underneath the water. It put him into a coma for three and a half weeks."

"How could you not tell me about this?" Pony asked. At the moment he couldn't help but feel a little hurt at being left out of such a thing. Did they not trust him, or think that he wouldn't understand?

"How could I? You were still pretty young at the time, and Darry and me made a pack to never tell anyone about it. The kid woke up but really didn't remember much about what happened. Bridge wars went away, but man, Darry was racked with guilt. If he had gotten caught he really would have been in a lot of trouble."

Just then, a doctor walked over to them.

"Your brother is fixed up and ready to go."

"Thank you, doctor," Sodapop as he and Ponyboy both got to their feet.

They moved ahead for the room Darry had been placed in but before they could go in, Ponyboy put his hand on Sodapop's arm to stop him.

"Wait, give me a minute. I need to talk to him first."

Although he was a little scared about seeing Darry by himself, he knew he needed to do this. After taking a deep breath, Ponyboy walked in to see Darry sitting on the table. He was finishing putting on his shirt which was now stained with dried blood. The sight overwhelmed the younger teen because he knew this had been his fault. Darry must have picked up on that because he quickly said;

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Darry…I'm sorry. For everything."

"Yeah, me too."

Ponyboy walked closer to the table. When he spoke again, he made sure to keep his voice low.

"Soda told me about what happened. That you were involved in bridge wars a few years ago."

"I was," Darry admitted as he lowered his eyes, seeming ashamed of that. "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you'd be following in my footsteps there, kiddo."

"Did you do it for the money?" Pony questioned.

"I figured I could start saving for college," Darry confirmed, then became curious himself. "What did you want the money for?"

Ponyboy looked down at his feet, now feeling guiltier, if that were even possible.

"I was going to run away."

Darry raised his eyebrows as he just stared at his youngest brother, the disbelief was evident. Ponyboy couldn't meet his stare as he just continued to look down, shoving his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't begin to chew on any nails.

"Are you serious?" Darry finally spoke again, sounding a little angry, "I mean, jeez Pony, I know I hit you and everything but-"

"It wasn't about the hit," Pony interrupted in a quiet voice, "I heard you, Darry."

"You heard me?"

"You said that you thought I'd be better off in a boy's home."

Giving him another look, Darry replied in a low forceful tone;

"I never said that."

"You did. It was the night after our fight, you were talking with Sodapop and said maybe I'd be better off in a boy's home."

Darry cocked his head. At first, he was ready to vehemently deny the accusation yet again but then he really started to think. He knew he had gone to a bar with his work buddies, he knew that he had talked to Sodapop about the fight, but really couldn't recall saying that. But Ponyboy was insistent that he in fact had.

"Pony…I had been drinking that night."

Ponyboy blinked in surprise when he said that. As far as he knew, Darry never drank.

"I really don't remember much about that night, or what I said," Darry continued. "But I never would do that. You've gotta believe me, little buddy."

A small smile then appeared on Ponyboy's face. Darry normally only called Sodapop 'little buddy.' Darry smiled back and right at that moment, finally, an understanding came between the two of them. Pony came forward and threw his arms around Darry's neck, hugging him which Darry returned.

Just then, Sodapop finally walked in and saw the scene taking place. He placed his hands on his hips as he looked on, his eyes becoming glassy as he interrupted;

"Oh, you guys are finally talking. It's funny that it took you two nearly getting killed to do it."

"We didn't nearly get killed, Soda," Darry said easily, hoping to keep his brother calm as he and Pony let go of each other. "We're fine."

"But it could have been worse, it could have been a lot worse!"

"It could have been, but it wasn't." Pony responded, as he could see that Soda was really starting to lose it. "What's with you?"

"What's with me?" Soda questioned in a high pitched voice, almost incredulously. "I can't stand it when you two fight! It's like being in the middle of a damn tug-of-war. When you fight with each other, you're fighting with me too, you know."

Pony's mouth fell open. He had never thought of that. Darry had look of concern of his face as well as they realized what he was saying. Just about any time they fought, they expected Sodapop to take their side.

"I mean, it'd be easier, I guess, if I could take sides, but I can't. I see both sides. I mean, Pony, you need to think a little bit more. Darry could have put us both in foster homes and worked his way through collage. But he didn't, he's given up his whole life so we don't have to be with strangers. You need to remember to appreciate that, it may not make him the king, but gosh, think about that."

He took a deep breath.

"And Darry, you need to try to understand him more, and stop hollering at him for every little thing he does wrong."

Tears welled in his eyes.

"It's bad enough to have to listen to it, but then y'all try to get me to take sides against the other. You can't do that. It ain't fair. And you two don't see that."

Ponyboy felt sick and ashamed. He had made his brother cry, Darry too looked like he felt.

"We're all we've got left," Soda continued, trying to keep his voice steady. "If we don't have each other we don't have anything. So please…please don't fight anymore."

There was a long, silent moment as they took in what was said. Darry got up off the table and put his hand on Soda's shoulder.

"Sure, little buddy. We're not going to fight anymore." Darry then looked back over at Pony. "Okay?"

"Yeah. I promise to try."

Darry nodded solemnly.

"I promise too."

They pulled each other into a bear hug, and right then at that moment, felt more together then they have in a long time.

XXXXXXXX

A week had gone by since the end of bridge wars, but Ponyboy knew he still had some loose ends to tie up. Making sure Dally was by his side, he went over to Buck Merrill's place and gave him back the money he took, the forty dollars plus an additional forty to make up for it.

"I'm sorry Buck," Pony apologized. "Are we cool?"

"Yeah, you live." Buck growled after he took the money and saw that Pony had coughed up some interest to make up for his stealing. "But I don't ever want to see you around here anymore? Got it?"

"Got it."

Breathing a sigh of relief after getting that over with, Ponyboy knew he had one more thing left to do. He had promised Johnny that the two of them would run away. Now that he had worked things out with Darry, running away was the furthest thing on his mind, but he had no idea how to tell his best friend that.

He had gotten Johnny to agree to it, sold him on the idea, how could he tell him that he wasn't going to do it now? Would Johnny run off by himself? And even if he didn't, he still had nothing to go back to.

"Come on kid," Dally said, interrupting his thoughts as they left Buck's place. "Two-Bit and Johnny are going to meet us at the Nightly Double."

"Yeah," Pony muttered as he hopped into Dally's car. "So, have you heard anything about Tim?"

"Na, I wouldn't worry about it. He's pissed off about losing, especially to you, but he ain't gonna try anything. You're pretty much in the clear."

Ponyboy nodded. Although he'd love to see someone cut Tim like he had done to Darry, it was for the best for things to calm down. The last thing they needed was for a war to start up between the two gangs.

"So, I take it you ain't thinkin' of runnin' away anymore," Dally then said, "What'd are you gonna do with the cash?"

"I don't know. Save it for a rainy day, I guess."

Dally snorted as he muttered 'a rainy day' under his breath. Ponyboy smiled as he saw the Nightly Double come into sight. Everything was starting to go back to normal. Sodapop had moved back into their room, Darry and him were getting along better than they had in a long time, it was if-

Ponyboy then blinked as he realized it.

Sodapop's room was empty.


	11. Chapter 11

XXXXXXXX

The gang had gathered on the field on a typical Sunday afternoon. The weather was starting to get colder here in Tulsa so they didn't know how many more chances for football games they were going to get. Darry's team consisted of Ponyboy, Two-Bit and Johnny, leaving Dally with Sodapop and Steve for the other team. The game had gone on for a long time now, and during a huddle Dally whispered franticly to his team, while Darry was trying to think of the best plan for scoring this last touchdown. Ahead on points, if they scored once more, they would win. Darry looked to Ponyboy as he was the fastest runner out of all of them;

"I think you should run it in, by yourself. Two-Bit can cover Steve, Johnny can cover Soda."

Two-Bit gulped dramatically and they all burst out laughing.

"I'll try to keep Dally back." Darry said to Ponyboy. "After I throw you the ball."

"Nah. Let Dally try to catch me," Pony responded. Darry looked at his youngest brother curiously but the younger teen just shook his head and gave him a confident smile. "Trust me."

Darry shrugged a shoulder.

"Alright."

Pony grinned and they all walked to position, getting ready in the center of the field.

"Five. Twenty-four. Eighty-one. Five-hundred and nineteen…" Darry's team began to laugh, as Darry went on naming numbers. Dally stood up, looking annoyed.

"Hurry up! That's a del-"

"HIKE!" Darry yelled and his team set to work, all as they had been instructed. Darry started to run, but soon Soda was standing in front of him, knees bent, ready to spring and chased him down. Darry was able to get around him and began to take off with Sodapop in close pursuit.

"Soda!" Dally looked angry as he yelled to the other boy. "I know you run faster than that! Tackle him!"

With the command, Soda sprinted as fast as he could before leaping forward and grabbed Darry's ankles, making him fall but not before he was able to throw the ball to Ponyboy. Two-Bit blocked Steve for enough time to let Pony around with the ball. Ponyboy was running, faster than he ever had in his life, looking at the end ground. Dally was close behind, and seeing what could be his only chance at stopping the younger teen, launched at his lower legs. Ponyboy sprang high off the ground, causing Dally to crash and burn. After his jump, Ponyboy's feet came into contact with the ground again as he continued running until making it into the end zone, winning it for his team.

However, that didn't stop Steve from tackling him once he reached Ponyboy. Steve tackled Ponyboy and the two fell to the ground, wrestling. The gang gathered around and laughed as Steve pulled the football from Ponyboy's hands but it was meaningless as the game was over.

"This is bullshit!" Steve yelled out of frustration as he got up and threw the football down. "These teams ain't fair."

"Stop whining, Randle," Darry answered, as he picked the ball up.

"It's always three against four!"

"What are you talking about?" Ponyboy questioned as Soda helped him up. "We've got Two-Bit on our team, that's no advantage."

"Hey," Two-Bit responded while putting a hand on his chest. "That hurts, deep down."

"My heart bleeds for you."

"Thank you, Pony."

Ponyboy rolled his eyes and looked over at Johnny.

"Johnny, you want to stay with us tonight?"

Johnny shrugged a shoulder.

"Sure."

Grinning, Darry and Sodapop began to walk ahead as Pony and Johnny trailed behind. While he didn't say anything, Pony had to stifle the excitement he was feeling. He wanted to tell Johnny the good news but was told to wait until they all got back to the house. Ponyboy had already had the talk with Sodapop about a week ago.

 _"I wanted to ask you…can Johnny stay with us?" Pony asked._

 _"Yeah." Soda shrugged. "He can stay over any night he wants."_

 _"I don't mean just at nights. I mean, live with us. In your old room."_

 _Soda looked at him in surprise._

 _"Pony…I don't know." He began._

 _"Please Soda. He can't live with his parents anymore."_

 _Soda felt uneasy. He wasn't sure if they could afford to have someone else live with them on a full time basis. And he didn't plan on sleeping with Pony forever. "Pony, you know we love Johnny to death, but what about money?"_

 _"He can get a job the gas station. He can work part time, like Steve. Please Soda." Pony begged._

 _Soda sighed._

 _"Well, it's fine with me."_

 _Ponyboy beamed and was about to throw himself at his older brother but Soda stopped him._

 _"But, you know that Darry is gonna have to say yes, too."_

Asking Darry was going to be the hard part. He was so afraid to have the talk, afraid that Johnny would be back on the streets or having to live with his horrible parents again. Ponyboy didn't know how he'd live with himself if that happened, not after he had convinced Johnny to run away with him and get away from it all. But much to Pony's surprise, Darry didn't give him a hard time about his request like he thought he would.

 _Ponyboy handed Darry the money he had won from the bridge wars competition. Darry took it and looked a little bemused._

 _"Why on earth would you want to give me this?"_

 _"It's rent money."_

 _Darry still looked confused._

 _"I wanted to ask you if Johnny could stay with us from now on. In Sodapop's old room."_

 _He looked at Pony for a few moments as his youngest brother nervously held his stare. Darry then looked to Soda who shook his head._

 _"He already asked me," Soda said. "I told him I'd be fine with it, as long as you were."_

 _"Sodapop got Johnny a part time job at the DX," Ponyboy informed Darry. "He can help pay his own way."_

 _Ponyboy's feet began to shuffle as Darry seemed to be mauling this all over his in head..._

The four of them then arrived at the Curtis house. After stepping through the front door, Johnny made his way over to the couch but Ponyboy stopped him.

"No, not there."

Johnny's brows furrowed as Pony grinned.

"Follow me."

Darry and Sodapop stood back and watched as Ponyboy led his best friend down the hall to the bedrooms. Johnny then looked inside to what he knew was Sodapop's old bedroom, before he started sleeping with Pony. The room was nice and neat, and the bed was made up.

"You can stay here. You can live with us from now on."

 _What?_

Johnny's jaw almost dropped in surprise. Clearing his head, he looked back at Darry and Soda who both had smiles on their faces. Had he heard Ponyboy clearly? Darry then spoke up.

"On two conditions."

Johnny then became uneasy at the sound of the last part. He looked from Darry to Ponyboy, his eyes saying a lot.

"They're really no big deal," Ponyboy shrugged.

"What are they?" Johnny asked.

"One, you will have to keep working with Soda and Steve at the DX." Darry said.

Johnny nodded, that wasn't so bad. He was actually enjoying the job so far as Sodapop promised to teach him everything he knew. Darry then spoke up again;

"And two, you have to stay in school."

Johnny wasn't too thrilled about this. He had always hated going to school. But anything was better than having to deal with his old man every night.

"There was something about staying out of trouble too," Pony added.

"Yeah," Darry began. "But boys will be boys,"

Soda then laughed a little. That was something their Dad use to say. Darry must have realized this and lightly punched Soda's shoulder, who then proceeded to act like he had just been shot.

I know you'll be on your best behavior," Darry finished.

Johnny looked up, meeting Darry's eyes. He nodded again, not being able to say anything. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"So, what do you say?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yes," Johnny managed as a huge smile came over Pony's face.

"Alright!" Soda yelled as he got back to his feet. "Come on, let's celebrate."

They went into the kitchen as Sodapop opened the refrigerator and pulled out a freshly baked chocolate cake while Darry got out four glasses to pour chocolate milk into. Ponyboy and Johnny sat down at the table, Johnny looked over at his friend, still shocked from what he had just been told. He then managed to say

"Thank you, Pony."

The smile still hadn't left Ponyboy's face.

"Welcome home," Pony said as he looked back at Johnny and noticed the kicked puppy look that his eyes normally held had rapidly began to fade away...

The End.


End file.
